National Press Club Luncheon With Admiral Thad

8/14/2019 National Press Club Luncheon With Admiral Thad

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NATIONAL PRESS CLUB LUNCHEON WITH ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN

SUBJECT: THE STATE OF THE COAST GUARD

MODERATOR: ALAN BJERGA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

LOCATION: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB BALLROOM, WASHINGTON, D.C.

TIME: 12:30 P.M. EDT

DATE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010

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ALAN BJERGA: (Sounds gavel.) Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome tothe National Press Club. My name is Alan Bjerga, a reporter for Bloomberg News, andPresident of the National Press Club. We are the worlds leading professionalorganization for journalists, and are committed to our professions future by providinginformative programming and by fostering a free press worldwide. For more information

about the Press Club, please visit our website at www.press.org. To donate to ourprofessional programs, please visit press.org/library.

On behalf of our members worldwide, I'd like to welcome our speaker, and ourguests at todays event, as well as our C-SPAN and public radio audiences. After thespeech concludes, I will ask as many questions from the audience as time permits.

I'd now like to introduce our head table guests and ask them to stand briefly whentheir names are called. From your right, Jim Wolfe, Defense Technology Correspondentfor Reuters; Robert Yoon, Political Research Director, CNN; Matt Mlynarczyk, Presidentof Advocatus Group; John Fales, Marine and Sergeant Staff columnist for the

Washington Times; Jan Lesher, Chief of Staff for the Department of Homeland Security;John Gallagher, Senior America's Correspondent for Fair Play magazine; Master ChiefSkip Bowen, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard and a guest of the speaker;Ken Yates, Senior Vice President for Jefferson Waterman.

Passing over our speaker, we have Donna Leinwand, past National Press ClubPresident and a reporter for USA Today; Ms. Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White HouseCouncil on Environmental Quality, and a guest of the speaker; Ken Delechi, freelance


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writer and editor; Amy Morris, executive editor for Federal News Radio. Thank you.(Applause)

Our speaker today, Admiral Thad Allen, has served as Commandant of the 42,000men and women of the largest component of the Department of Homeland Security, the

U.S. Coast Guard, sometimes called the quiet service because of its lesser profile, but noless essential function for national security. He reports directly to the President, theSecretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Defense. Now completing his four-year appointment as the 23rd Commandant, he has led the Coast Guard through achallenging time of terrorist threats in our ports and cities, and piracy on the sea lanes ofcommerce around the world.

The U.S. Coast Guards roots extend to 1789 when the U.S. Lighthouse Servicewas established by the Treasury Department. The earlier Continental Navy was abolishedafter the Revolution. So in 1790, Alexander Hamilton wrote a bill creating a service ofcutters to enforce our nations customs laws. That later incorporated the U.S. life saving

service to become our nations first responder to natural disasters and maritimeemergencies. It is the oldest seagoing service of the United States.

Today, it is a major source of rescue and assistance in times of disaster oremergency. From the 1980 Mariel boatlift to the 1991 Haitian exodus of 40,000 refugees,and the Indian Ocean tsunami, the U.S. Coast Guard played a vital role during HurricaneKatrina when it rescued nearly 25,000 people and medically evacuated close to 10,000.The Coast Guard is assisting in the Haiti earthquake aftermath as we speak. Its dutiesinclude search and rescue, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection,polar ice operations, and national security. I think all of us in Washington can relate tothe polar ice part.

Today, Admiral Allen is speaking on the state of the Coast Guard and his view ofits future. Let us extend a warm Press Club welcome to the Commandant of the UnitedStates Coast Guard, Admiral Thad W. Allen. (Applause)

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, thank you very much for that kind introduction. If Icould just add a couple of comments to the introductions of the head table, I have twovery good friends that have joined us here today. On my right is Nancy Sutley, Chairmanof the Council of Environmental Quality. Nancy and I met last August when we traveledto the north slope of Alaska together to witness first hand the implications of an icediminished arctic in the summer, the impact on indigenous populations up there, andsome of the environmental challenges that we face in the Coast Guard while operating upthere. She's been a great friend, and more recently has led a taskforce by the President, aninteragency taskforce on ocean policy and very shortly will be putting out an oceanpolicy for the country, a governance structure. But more importantly a background on aconcept for something called marine spatial planning, which will take a look at how wedeconflict uses in the water; and of course, that's very, very important to the Coast Guard.So I want to thank Nancy for being with us today and being a great shipmate. Thank you,Nancy. (Applause)


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To my left is Jan Lesher, Chief of Staff to Secretary Napolitano. We are bothfrom Tucson, Arizona, so we both work for our governor, former governor. She has theunfortunate background of having gone to Tucson High, I went to Palo Verde High, butwe don't let that spoil things between us. Jan will be headed back to Tucson at the end of

this month to resume her duties there after having helped the Secretary for this last year.We do not have a better friend in the Department of Homeland Security, and I do nothave a better friend than Jan Lesher. Jan, thanks for being here. (Applause)

And let me thank the National Press Club. We have changed the format of thisevent over the years to coincide with the National Press Clubs luncheon series. Thisallows us to access afforded by C-SPAN, and we thank the National Press Club for theirpartnership and also allowing us to have this simulcast on their website. We thank youvery much for that.

Wed like to acknowledge a couple of other special guests here today, but I'm

going to do it in a group. We have units here today, representatives from units, thatresponded to the Haitian crisis; early search and rescue recovery, surveillance, reportingback situational awareness, rendering aid as the first folks on scene. If you could stand,first we have crewmen from the Coast Guard cutterMohawk, Key West, Florida.(Applause) And we have crewmen from Air Station Clearwater, flew an incredibleamount of sorties and conducted innumerous number of medivacs and brought cargo.Please stand. (Applause) This is what makes my job worth it, folks.

I'd like to make two other comments before I begin my remarks. First of all, Iwould like to note over this last year, we lost a C130 out in Air Station Sacramento, the1705, and we continue to grieve and support those families and survivors, and we wishthem the best here today. I also did note today, the 12th of February, is the anniversary ofanother tragedy that happened in the Coast Guard back in the late 1990s. We lost all butone crewman on a motor surf boat that was attempting a rescue at station QuillayuteRiver, and we keep them in our thoughts here today as well.

If I could set the scene for my remarks, let me take you to 4:52 on the 12th ofJanuary when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The newsspread quickly through the corridors of Washington, D.C., and other capitals around theworld. While most were gathering information and trying to understand the event, yourCoast Guard was acting. Within the hour, cutters Forward, Mohawkand Tahomareceived orders to proceed to Port-au-Prince. When the Forwardarrived with thefollowing mornings sunrise, they delivered command and control capabilities, medicalsupplies, and most importantly, hope, hope for the Haitian people and a promise that theworld had not forgotten them.

Air Station Clearwater helicopters and C130s also arrived at first light, andevacuated the first American citizens, conducted damage assessment over flights andmade arrangements to transport the Director of the United Nations Stabilization Missionin Haiti from Miami to Port-au-Prince. Within 24 hours, Coast Guard men and women


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created the art of the possible where none seemed to exist. Before any knew how manywere hurt, hundreds of injured Haitians were thanking our people for providing lifesavingfirst aid.

The crews of the cutters Tahoma andMohawkcreated a makeshift clinic at the

destroyed Haitian Coast Guard base, Killick barracks. Armed with only a limited supplyof medical equipment, they broke off tree branches to use for splints. One ofTahomasjunior officers described his initial impressions. There were screams, wailing, crying,and desperate calls for help. I knew I was walking into a bad situation, but nothing couldhave prepared me for what I saw at that clinic. Our guardians pushed forward, there werecountless stories of lives being saved, and those that were lost. There was also a storyabout new life being brought into the world amidst the utter devastation. Here today isAST2 Chad Smolar, an Air Station Clearwater rescue swimmer who helped deliver aHaitian boy on Tahomas flight deck. He went on to participate in over 80 medivacs. Sowe thank you, Petty Officer Smolar, and all the troops who are stationed in Clearwater.Would you please stand again. (Applause)

Petty Officer Elias Gomez who is a corpsman from theMohawkis also with ustoday. He treated over 300 critically wounded patients. In one case, Petty Officer Gomezspent six hours inserting 50 sutures and 20 staples to reattach the scalp and forehead of aninjured man. We are indebted to you, Petty Officer Gomez, and your shipmates fromMohawk. Would you please stand? (Applause)

By January 25th, we had five cutters in the immediate area, and nearly 900 CoastGuard people in theater. To date, we have evacuated nearly 1,200 American citizens,conducted 250 medical evacuations, and delivered over 700 responders to Port-au-Prince,pretty amazing for an organization whose entire active duty workforce could fit intoNational Stadium.

It should also be clear that the Haitian response included superior team play by allof our Homeland Security partners and components. From the stand up to the HomelandSecurity Taskforce Southeast to coordinate the evacuation of American citizens to thework of TSA, CDP, ICE and CIS to prescreen and pre-clear Haitian orphans, we workedas a team, one that I am proud to be part of. In the interagency, we also worked closelywith FEMA and USAID to support the larger relief effort in Haiti and embedded CoastGuard logisticians on the staff of the Joint Taskforce Haiti under U.S. SouthernCommand. The same teamwork is being displayed in our joint effort with our Canadianpartners during the winter Olympics, which begin today.

As I deliver my final State of the Coast Guard Address, I would like to narrow myfocus a bit, and I'd be glad to expand on topics and questions as you desire, address threemajor forces that are shaping our current and future environment. They are, of course, ourbudget requests for fiscal year 2011, the significant progress that has been made inmodernizing the Coast Guard over the last three years; and the condition of our agingcutter fleet, are of concern to me.


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These forces in combination create challenges and opportunities. To insure weoptimize the resources available to us, and at the same time create the conditions forfuture success, we need a very clear understanding of our priorities, and well talk aboutthat here today.

So what is the state of the Coast Guard? In two words: ready and resilient. We areready and resilient. We demonstrated that in the view of the entire world in the first hoursand days following the Haitian earthquake. We were there first because our operationalforces and command and control structure are agile and flexible. Authority to moveforces is delegated outside our headquarters, so our field commanders can actimmediately. Our forces are working hard to sustain current operations, maintainingcutters until our new ones are delivered.

So let me turn to the first force shaping our current and future operatingenvironment of fiscal 2011 budget request. I have communicated openly to our personnelregarding the details and intent of our 2011 budget. As President Obama remarked in the

State of the Union speech, it is important to understand we are in a constrained budgetenvironment. He said, Families across the country are tightening their belts. The federalgovernment should do the same. As the Commandant, I have rogered for this message.The request currently before Congress does reduce personnel in the Coast Guard by 773;but most importantly, allows us to remove cutters and aircraft from service that are agingand in need of replacement.

Some of these are being replaced, and some are being laid up to allow us tomaintain our existing fleet. The good news is the budget contains nearly $1.4 billion toallow us to continue replacing aging assets; assets like our high endurance cutters. Thebudget contains $538 million to buy the fifth national security cutter to continue ourreplacement of our aging high endurance cutters.

It includes $254 million for fast response cutters to replace our 110 foot controlboat class. $40 million so there for maritime patrol aircraft, and we are especiallyappreciative for the President and First Ladys support for our families, and for the $13.9million for improvement or acquisition of housing to support our families. And we thankthem again.

As Commandant, I supported this budget as it has provided me the flexibility, andthe Coast Guard the flexibility, to continue our recapitalization needs. Collectively, thepersonnel reduction decommission unit and recapitalizing funding reflect hard choices,choices that best position the Coast Guard to optimize our performance and protect thenation within the funding provided and still replace aging cutters and aircraft. Our intentis to manage current operations as funded in order to sustain our recapitalization program.The Presidents budget does this. This represents the best way forward in a constrainedfunding level.

And let me add here as the Commandant, and the Coast Guards responsibility, tomanage current operations with the force size and structure provided in the budget. We


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That was the cause for action, the value proposition for Coast Guardmodernization. It is no less valid today than three years ago, and you could make the casethat the cause for action is more compelling given what we've experienced.

So what about today? That's a fair question. Let's review the bidding, and here aresome highlights of what's been accomplished. We have replaced a multi-layeredmaintenance and logistics organization with a simplified construct that focusers on theoperational unit and a product or program line manager. We've established logisticscenters for our aviation facilities, cutter and small boat fleet, shore infrastructure and ourcommand and control communications, cyberspace sensors and information technology.Its a mouthful.

Any unit in the Coast Guard with a support issue has a single point of contact forentry into our mission support system. We are now moving to induct our legacy assetsinto a unified logistics management information system that will be used by all logistics

centers. For the uninitiated in the room, and for those of you from the larger militaryorganization, this is tantamount to a logistical treaty of Westphalia within the CoastGuard. We're talking heavy culture here, folks.

For support that's not centered on an asset, as a ship and aircraft or a small boat,we created service centers to accomplish the same functions for personnel support,medical care and legal services. We have completely revamped our support structure forour reserve component and have reallocated positions that support our reservists closer tothe service delivery point. We have a review under way to reaffirm the role and forcestructure of our reserve component, looking ahead to future mission demand.

The deployable operations group, the DOG, has distinguished itself in meeting avariety of operational demands for incident response, surge operations and increasedthreat levels. While we are reducing the total number of deployable units, let there be nomistake of the value this command brings to the concept of deployable specialized forcesfor the Coast Guard, for the Department of Homeland Security, and for the entire nation.Today, Port Security Unit 307 stands the watch in Port-au-Prince harbor.

The Coast Guard Force Readiness Command has been established under the ableleadership of Rear Admiral Tim Sullivan pending passage of authorizing legislation toupgrade the command to a vice admiral. This organization has taken on some of the morecomplex and perplexing problems in our service, including consolidation of the myriad ofvisits and inspections that are now required of our operational commands. We haveimplemented every portion of modernization that has been possible with three exceptions.Of the three, two belong to the Coast Guard and one awaits action by Congress. The firstremaining challenge for the service is the integration of support across our new logisticproduct and program lines at the unit level. The challenge is to replace a geographicallybased and isolated support command with an integrated organization that requires nointermediate intervention to integrate the mission support for our forces. That soundedcomplex, and it is, but the solution in concept is simple. We are replacing regional


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support commands, and we're part of a multi-level support organization with anintegrating structure that allows, for example, small boat product line manager tosynchronize his support responsibilities, the product line manager for the communicationand sensors on the small boat.

The second Coast Guard responsibility is for our financial audit. This is a goal Iestablished at the outset of my term that I will not see accomplished. The reasons arecomplex, but the solution ultimately lies in the transition to a new financial accountingsystem that's being developed by the Department of Homeland Security. That system isunder development, and it didn't make sense to procure a new unified accounting systemfor the Coast Guard, only to have to replace it several years later by the departmentssystem. In the meantime, there are numerous areas where we can address materialweaknesses and improve our representation to the auditors, and we are doing just that.

The third and final step in modernization journey involves Congress. There arefour actions that I cannot take, the Coast Guard cannot take, absent Congressional

authorization. The first is the change in the title of the Atlantic area command of theCoast Guard operations command, the proposed worldwide synchronizer of Coast Guardoperations, or OPCOM. The second is the designation of the Pacific area command as theCoast Guard Force Readiness Command, or FORCECOM, the command responsible fortraining, equipping and providing forces to OPCOM.

The third is the upgrade of our deputy commandant for operations from RearAdmiral to Vice Admiral, and the forces upgrade of the vice commandant from viceadmiral to admiral. I laid out these intentions in my first State of the Coast Guard addresson the 13th of February, 2007. My request to allow full implementation of Coast Guardmodernization is the passage of authorizing legislation so that we may move forward.

Finally, I'd like to talk about cutter readiness. I picked cutter readiness as the thirdforce acting on our operating environment because it synthesizes and integrates theeffects of our budget decisions, modernization, and our ability to conduct operations forthe public we serve. The current condition of our high endurance cutters is of seriousconcern to me. Following the extensive repairs required to bring Gallatin andDallasback into productive service over the last 18 months, we continue to experienceincreasing casualties to other high endurance cutters that are indicative of overalldeclining readiness.

This scenario underscores the need to be able to support the cutters that are inservice pending their relief by newly constructed national security cutters. This tensionbetween current support levels and the need to bring new cutters online was critical in ourdecision to decommission high endurance cutters, which is supported in the Presidentsbudget.

As we support the existing fleet, as they are relieved by new cutters, we havetransitioned that support to our new logistics organization. This is a prime example wherethe new product line support structure allows us to provide better support and create


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synergies not possible prior to modernization. Our ability to implement this new supportstructure will be more critical as we support our median endurance cutter fleet in advanceof the offshore patrol cutter procurement that will begin in the 2012-2013 time frame.And we are also facing challenges this winter with an aging Great Lakes ice-breakingfleet.

Our recent experience and support of Haiti response, relief and recoveryoperations is instructive here. As I have noted in the past, the Coast Guard operates oneof the oldest fleets in the world. No amount of maintenance can outpace the ravages ofage. Here's what happened behind the scenes. Of the 12 major cutters assigned to Haitirelief operations, 10, or 83 percent, suffered severe emission affecting casualties. Twowere forced to return to port for emergency repairs, and one proceeded to an emergencydry dock. We also had to divert air resources away from evacuation efforts to deliverrepair parts. This process was coordinated flawlessly through our new logistics structure,including the creation of a forward deployed logistics structure at Guantanamo Bay. Theresponse was a triumph for our new mission support organization, but underscored the

condition of our fleet.

I would like to tell you that we over-extended because of the compelling nature ofthe mission in Haiti. The fact is, we will always, always, divert and respond. We will takeevery resource we have and throw it at the problem. The larger issue is that the conditionof the cutters that responded is indicative of the overall readiness of the fleet. The averageage of our high endurance cutters is over 41 years compared to 14 years for a Navy ship.The condition of our fleet continues to deteriorate, putting our crews at risk, jeopardizingour ability to do the job. That's why we must address future readiness, as we have in thePresidents budget.

So it would be logical for a person on the street to say, So how do you do this?The answer is, we play to our strengths. And as somebody told me a year or so ago wepunch above our weight. As we continue to adapt and change in response to changingmission demand or fiscal challenges, there remain certain aspects of our service that aretimeliness: our guardian ethos, our core values, and our operating principles. They guidethe men and women of the Coast Guard, active duty, reserve, auxiliary and civilians. It isthese people who remain undaunted, it is these people who create the art of the possiblewhen noon exist. And it is these people who do not need direction from higher authorityto act.

After the first day of rescue operations in Haiti, a third class petty officer said thisin an email to his mother. Today was the first day I think I've truly been more thankfulto be an American. Not because of our infrastructure or the freedoms given to us, butbecause as a country, we will be there when a country of less fortune is in need. Haitirarely exports anything to our country. They have no oil or major cash crop we use. Butas a country, we will stand together and put aside our different opinions on healthcare,war, or economy and help out those in need.


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These are remarkable words written by somebody so junior in such a concise andmeaningful way, and it tells me, and it should tell you, that the state of the Coast Guard isreflected in our people and its reflected in their resiliency. So the Coast Guard todayremains true to our motto, Semper paratus. We have made significant cultural changes,process improvements and structural enhancements and sustained readiness in the face of

ever-increasing demand for our services, and the high performance expectations of theAmerican public. While the state of the Coast Guard remains strong and resilient today,to remain strong, to remain resilient, to remain true to our motto requires continuedsupport for the hard decisions made and supported in this Presidents budget.

We are up to the challenge. Thank you, and I'd be glad to take any questions youhave. (Applause)

MR. BJERGA: And thank you, Admiral Allen. There is no shortage ofquestions that have come in today, many of which are from service members who'veactually emailed the National Press Club. And we appreciate their contributions as well.

Our first question is as a veteran of disaster response, please compare and contrast thechallenges of the situation in Haiti with the situation in Louisiana and Mississippi afterHurricane Katrina?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: And that's a terrific question. Let me start with theresponse model for Haiti. We're dealing with a foreign sovereign government that theentire international community is trying to support. The way the United Statesaccomplishes that support for the government of Haiti is through our Chief of Mission, orAmbassador Merton is on ground. Now, most embassies are not staffed to handle surgeoperations, such as what has been going on in Haiti, so USAID dispatched a seniorofficial down there to assist the ambassador. That is the person who focuses the responseby the American government for the government of Haiti. In support of that effort, twoentities were established. One was Joint Taskforce Haiti until Lieutenant General Keenfrom U.S. Southern Command, and a team of folks who was sent down by theDepartment of Homeland Security and other agencies to support Ambassador Lucke, whowas the head representative from USAID.

In Katrina, the people we were supporting were the local and the stategovernments, the mayor and the governor. And in the United States, there are federalprohibitions regarding what the federal government can or should do. And this was all insupport of the mayor and the governor. So my role as a principal federal official was towork with Joint Taskforce Katrina Commander, Russ Honore as we put together aresponse package to support Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco. So there are similarities,but the overall governance structure is a little different.

MR. BJERGA: President Obama has vowed no cuts to defense, and theDepartment of Defense is seeing small budget increases for fiscal year 11. Otherhomeland security agencies are also adding jobs. As chronically under-resourced andover-tasked as the Coast Guard is, how is it that it is taking a 3 percent budget cut andlosing nearly 800 jobs in contrast to other agencies that are gaining?


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ADMIRAL ALLEN: Let me reinforce what I said. What is important about thePresidents budget is it has allowed me, its allowed the Secretary the flexibility to focuson recapitalization and then manage current operations with the funding provided. Andwe can argue about funding levels, is it too much or too little? Everybody always wants

more. You never have enough budget. The real issue for me in this budget is can wecontinue to recapitalize the Coast Guard? Because if we dont do that, we will create ahollow force in the future. And that's what this budget is intended to address.

MR. BJERGA: This message came from the parent of a recent Coast Guardrecruit. How can you justify standard recruiting procedures continuing in high schoolsand store fronts when, in fact, there is an apparent backlog of fully processed recruitsbeing told they could be delayed up to, if not more, than a year? Realizing budget cutsand job retention, why spend the time and money to continually process recruits that, infact, have nowhere to go and have placed their lives on hold with the potentially emptypromise of enlistment?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: That's a good question as well. We need to understandwhat the budget is right now, and how we get to an appropriation. The Presidents budgetrequest is on the Hill. That has to be acted upon by appropriation committees in theHouse and the Senate, and then reconciled. One of the challenges we have in the CoastGuard is we do not know, or very close to the beginning of the fiscal year, what ourfunding level will be. And our ability to manage the workforce close in is constrained onwhat's appropriated. So while we have people waiting to access into the Coast Guardright now, and we know the budget that's on the Hill right now has reductions for theCoast Guard, until we know what's appropriated, we cannot take the final steps. Thiscreates some concerns in our workforce about the future and about what is going tohappen and how we will implement this. And as I told my entire workforce in an allhands email I sent on the 1st of February, we will manage the personal impacts associatedwith this. We will pass the information as soon as we know it, and we will be totallytransparent. In the meantime, we are going to have to manage a workforce that is largernow than we will be able to support in 2011. And we will do that in a totally transparentmanner.

MR. BJERGA: Another question, one of many related to the budget cuts. As theneed for budgetary cuts grows, has any consideration been given to cutting costly officerbillets and replacing them with less costly enlisted counterparts?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Always a question of interest to the field. Actually, in thepersonnel changes for the 2011 budget, there was a reduction of over 1,000 militarypersonnel. That is mostly related to the ships that are being laid up and taken offline thatare going to allow us to recapitalize the fleet, as I noted earlier. But in addition to that,there are over 300 civilian positions being added on. So there is somewhat of aconversion of some positions from military to civilian. This is going to help us meet thegoals that the department has established as far as taking a look at the total makeup of our


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workforce and the consideration of the diverse aspect and the people that make up ourworkforce.

As far a the officer to enlisted ratio, I will have our budget people determine thatfor the outcome of this budget, and I will put it out on a blog for everybody to read.

MR. BJERGA: Given that the nations fiscal crisis is not going to go away anytime soon, is it a possibility in future years that cuts could come to entitlement programs,such as healthcare, active duty pay, retirement pay, allowances, et cetera?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: I don't believe so. First of all, let me state very clearly, andI think the President has made this clear, too, the commitment to our men and women inthe military is very, very strong with the President. Its very strong with Secretary Gatesand Chairman Mullen and Joint Chiefs of Staff. One of the things, as we work both theCoast Guard budget and the defense budget, that is central is to make sure that we fundfull entitlements. Not only that, but the Coast Guard has parity, similar entitlements for

DOD. Those are where we start building the budget, and they will not be diminished.

MR. BJERGA: How will the lack of funding for NAIS in the fiscal year 11budget request impact Coast Guard operations?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: NAIS is the National Automated Identification System forthose who do not know what that means. That is a way for us to receive transponderlocating information from commercial vessels, 300 gross tons or greater, underinternational regulations and 65 feet and greater under rules that we are making in theCoast Guard right now. We think this is a critical piece of what we call maritime domainawareness. It is competing with other items in our recapitalization agenda right now. Andas I said, our aging cutters are our number one responsibility. But as we move forward,we're going to have to revisit what we think about maritime security in this country as itrelates to not only the national AIS system, but integrated operation centers and how wewant to conduct operations at the port level.

We have not had any viable threat to our ports since 9/11. That doesnt meanthere wont be one in the future, and we should manage against that. Right now, thepolicy discussion inside the administration is whether or not there's a credible enoughmaritime security requirement to build those out, and we believe there is.

MR. BJERGA: Given the budget and personnel situations, do you foresee anyexpanded opportunities for the Coast Guard auxiliary to deploy and assist the active dutyCoast Guard during foreign crises like the current situation in Haiti?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: We love the Coast Guard auxiliary, and they're a great,great benefit to the nation. They come from the local communities where we operate.Their paycheck is, Thank you. They work for psychic income. We do give themstipends to recover the amount of money paid for gas and some per diem cost whenthey're working. But most of the time, this is a labor of love for them and that's the reason


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we love them so much. We have, in many cases, found new, unique ways to employauxiliarists. Most recently, completely around the world during our cutter deployments,and actually in support of DOD operations, we have created a linguist program to providetranslating capabilities. We will take auxiliarists and their skills and apply them where wecan match them up in the Coast Guard, and well continue to do that.

MR. BJERGA: Given that you love auxiliarists and want to use them more, howextensively can you use them to make sure that they still love you? (Laughter)

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, it is kind of a dance. I spend a lot of time goingaround and talking with our auxiliarists, telling them how much we appreciate theirservices. In fact, I will tell you this. When they found out what our modernization planswere, since they are not constrained by Title xiv changes in their senior leaders orpositions, the auxiliary is already modernized. They have already gone to the structurethat we are proposing to Congress. And they did that as a show of good faith to supportus and reorganize auxiliary operations so they could be effectively interfaced with us.

And I think its a great partnership.

MR. BJERGA: Web 2.0 is becoming more widespread throughout the federalgovernment and is gaining more acceptance. Can you please explain how the CoastGuard uses Web 2.0? Does Web 2.0 social networking, et al., help the U.S. Coast Guardcarry out its mission more effectively?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: I said this in many venues, and I'll maybe say it here todaybecause there's some of the crowd that haven't heard it. I believe that the convergence ofcomputation and internet data transmission has produced an equivalent in our socialenvironment that is the equivalent to climate change. And Dr. Holdren from the Office ofScience and Technology Policy, said last fall in a speech to the Coast Guard, there arethree ways to adapt to climate change. You can suffer, adapt or manage. I would tell you,this is a fundamental change in our social atmosphere and there are three strategies toadapt social media; suffer, adapt, or manage. I've tried to move the Coast Guard into themanage category after spending a couple of months suffering. So we have a blog,Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and video libraries, and so forth. This is the way ournew digital natives learn, think, act and congregate to produce social outcomes. We haveto understand that, they are part of our workforce and we have to adapt to meet them.

MR. BJERGA: Be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on the sufferingpart of your adjustment to social media. Given that you were making this transition, whatsort of impacts were you seeing negatively when you hadn't done it, and what are some ofthe positive impacts you've had from having it?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I'm giving away a strategy here, but I thinkeverybody probably already understands this. The responsibility for the fidelity, veracity,truth, accuracy of anything you see on the internet rests with the reader. There are nobarriers to entry. That space could be populated by anybody, and we found out in ournational security and defense realm, that it is being populated by people that dont like us


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very much. If information out there is not correct, you have a couple of choices. You canlet it stand and suffer, you can adapt and go tit for tat, that's not always productive. Oryou can manage. We've chosen to fill the space with our information. You cant controltheir entry and you can't control what they put out there, but you can control what you doand you can fill the space.

MR. BJERGA: You also made reference in an earlier answer to climate change.What are some specific steps the Coast Guard is taking to become more green?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, first of all, we've been representing the Secretary onthe Interagency Taskforce on Ocean Policy with Nancy Sutley, whos with us here today.Beyond that, though, we are doing a lot of work at the International MaritimeOrganization where I'm the competent authority for U.S. shipping and lead the U.S.delegation on behalf of the State Department. At the recent General Assembly of theIMO in London the last week of November, 2009, after piracy, climate change and airemissions and those types of issues were the number two issue, followed by treatment of

seafarers international transportation system. The way we use the maritime environmentis really impacted by the types of fuels that are operated. We have issues with invasivespecies carried in ballast water. We're working very hard to invoke national standards andwork very closely with Nancy in issuing a notice of proposed rule making. We're in theprocess right now.

But finally, climate change has the potential to change our operating environment.And if you look at the north slope of Alaska, what I tell everybody, because there's a lotof arguments about the science. And I've said before I'm agnostic to the science. There'swater where there didn't used to be, and I'm responsible for it. In other words, there's aterritorial sea, a contiguous zone, and 200 mile exclusive economic zone that carries withit the same responsibilities and authorities that the Coast Guard has in the lower 48. Wecannot abdicate that responsibility, and that is a huge change in the mission set.

I've been told by some folks its mission creep and its not our responsibility, butthat is not the truth. The truth is, its a national responsibility and its something we haveto have a serious policy discussion about.

MR. BJERGA: With each answer, Admiral Allen, there are a couple of morequestions engendered in each response and its fun to keep shuffling the cards up here.Please keep them coming. Here's a question on seafarers. Given the importance ofmerchant commerce to our nation, why do international seafarers still seem to havedifficulty gaining access to shore leave?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: That's a great question, and its one I've taken up over thelast 18 months with industry and with my own folks. A couple of things are complicatingthis. First of all, Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration and theCoast Guard have been working for several years on rules that would implement atransportation worker identification card. This means if you're a designated waterfront


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facility or a vessel that falls under the Maritime Transportation Security Act, anybodythat has access to secure spaces has to carry one of these cards or be escorted.

What we have found out as we've implemented the TWIC, the transportationworker identification card, that somehow, in some cases, there's been obstruction for

crew change out, folks trying to get to shore for shore leave, or just do logistical workwhen they're in port. I've issued orders to my captain of the ports to take a look at this inconnection with approving facility security plans and the facility operators need todemonstrate to us that they have a plan to provide seafarer access to shore. And anybodythat runs into a problem like that needs to contact the nearest captain of the port. BecauseI've made it unequivocally clear to my commanding officers, and to industry, that thesepeople need to have shore leave and access to shore. We support that, and we will makethe changes necessary to make sure they have that.

MR. BJERGA: Why cant the international community put an end to piracyfrom Somalia?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: To have an act of piracy, it takes a piratable ship and apirate. We only control one part of that right now. And frankly, there are not a lot ofconsequences attached to the behavior of pirates. On the piratable ship side, we've takenextraordinary measures over the last 18 to 24 months not only putting out guidelines tothe National Maritime Organization on how to harden defenses of ships that are low andslow. These are slower ships that have lower freeboard that are more vulnerable to attack.Regarding U.S. shipping, as a competent U.S. authority, I have issued a maritime securitydirective that requires U.S. flag ships in and around the Horn of Africa to do vulnerabilityassessments for piracy and submit plans to us as part of their vessel security plans on howthey're going to mitigate the chances of a private attack, up to and including securityteams and armed security teams.

This has been enormously successful, but only counts for about a 1 percent of theshipping that transits the Horn of Africa. This is a significant problem for our Fifth FleetCommander, Vice Admiral Gortney, who works for Dave Petraeus out there. I've met onseveral occasions with him. Duncan McNabb, whos the head of the U.S. TransportationCommand that contracts U.S. shipping in and out of there, David Matsuda, the MaritimeAdministrator, and it has to be a couple of things. One of them has to include legalsanctions and holding these people accountable in a court of law someplace. Thesurviving pirate from the Maersk Alabama will be prosecuted in U.S. court. We have anMOU with Kenya that allows prosecution there. We have a little bit of a backlog. Weneed other countries to step forward and allow us to attach consequences to a piratesaction.

MR. BJERGA: How will the budget cuts impact Coast Guard operations aimedat intercepting drug smuggling?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: When we allocate our resources, regardless of the levelthat we were funded at, it was always a risk evaluation process. We take a look at our


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intelligence, the threats that are out there, and we allocate resources to meet the highestneeds first. Counter drugs is an important mission for us. The most important border tothe Coast Guard is not our land border, its not El Paso or Laredo, its the southern borderof Mexico and that we have capabilities keeping those drugs from entering CentralAmerica or Mexico. Because once they get there, they get disaggregated into smaller

loads that are much harder to interdict. Trying to capture multi-ton quantities departingSouth America before they get to Central America and Mexico is the most effective wayto interdict drugs coming from South America.

To that end, though, we have to make evaluations on a day to day basis. And thisunderscores my comments about the budget. The operational model is sometimes moreimportant than the funding level. Its our freedom of degrees of movement, to move theships into Port-au-Prince when we need to. One of the opportunity costs from Haitirecovery was the movement of the Coast Guard cutterHamilton from the Pacific Oceanthrough the Panama Canal to assume command and control at Port-au-Prince, leavingthat portion of the Pacific uncovered. And by intelligence estimates, a potential

vulnerability of ten tons of cocaine per month. Those are the tradeoffs we make inconducting current operations. And it doesnt matter what the resource level is, we haveto make those decisions so the process by which we do it, the intelligence we bring to it,the autonomy we give our field commanders and how we work that as a system is what'smost important.

MR. BJERGA: Question from the audience. Because of the way that themilitary is organized, the Coast Guard adheres to the dont ask, dont tell policy byagreement, not by direction. The Coast Guard is able to allow gays to serve openly. Evenif not ordered to by President Obama, will you reverse dont ask, dont tell?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, first of all, I cannot reverse dont ask, dont tell. Itsactually written into statute and it will take a repeal of the law to change that. The CoastGuard has since the original agreement for don't ask, dont tell been aligned, as we areunder Title X as a military service, with our other military services and following thedirection of the Chairman of the Joint Staff and the Secretary of Defense. Regarding this,a review is under way over the next year to take a look, to build knowledge, of how wemight fulfill the guidance that was provided to us by the President in the State of theUnion speech. The Coast Guard will be part of that review. We will participate fully, andour goal is to create as much knowledge as we can about the implications of theimplementation of the policy guidance provided by the President. Once that is actuallyconverted into legislation, how we can do that most effectively.

MR. BJERGA: This questioner says he will provide you with his full name,rank, and contact information if you are interested. And he asks, despite the two officialequal employment opportunity complaints, two congressional inquiries on the matter, andnumerous consultations with both military and private attorneys, the problem ofdiscrimination toward Hispanics in the Coast Guard persists. Is the Coast Guard going toaugment its senior leadership at operational and staff levels with more HispanicAmerican members to reflect the national changing demographics?


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ADMIRAL ALLEN: I would be happy to take the information and follow up onthe complaint. We seek diversity in the Coast Guard. Hispanic, African-American, allwalks of life, all different viewpoints, all religions are all important to us because theycreate cognitive diversity. And when I say cognitive diversity, its people that have

different viewpoints. And if you agree on a central goal that you're trying to achieve andyou have different viewpoints, I'll use a nautical metaphor, its like getting a multi-linefix and it gives you a much more robust and a higher fidelity solution on what you'retrying to do. We want a more diverse Coast Guard, and we are working towards that inour recruiting, in every aspect of the service. Its not restricted to just one nationality oneethnic group. We need diversity across the board, and that is our goal.

MR. BJERGA: This question comes from a civilian naval architect working atthe Coast Guard yard in Baltimore. In your efforts to constrain government spending, I'mconcerned the decommissioning of the five cutters mentioned in your budget might insome way affect civilian employees. I would like to know what efforts will be made to

preserve the job of civilian employees in this area?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, as I mentioned earlier, the reductions in theworkforce for 2011 are over 1,000 for military positions, but 339 civilian positions arebeing added. So, I dont see any negative impact at this point for our civilian workforce.

MR. BJERGA: Please update us on the internal review of ship inspectionprocedures. What is the status of that?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: I'm going to take a stab at what they're talking about. Wehave a review going on right now of our ships operations and how our engineering staffson ships handle oily water discharge and bilge water. And if that's the question, I'llanswer it. If its something else, I'll answer that. What we have done is to make sure thatwe are living by the same standards we hold industry to. I have dispatched our marineinspectors around the Coast Guard to actually go on board and inspect our cutters tomake sure that the same standards that we apply to the private sector we're holdingourselves to.

MR. BJERGA: As you had mentioned, the average Navy ship is, I believe, 14years commission and with the Coast Guard its 41. Is that correct? With the cuts in placeand the disparity in the age of the Coast Guard and Naval fleets, will you continue tohave enough ships that can literally keep pace with the Navy to be operationallyeffective?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: We will if they're properly maintained. That's one of thereasons we have to lay up the old ships, and we have to build the new ships. The oldships can participate in naval operations, have in the past and continue in the future. Butwe are seeing increasing levels of casualty reports and increasing levels of difficulty intrying to support them. Our question is not whether or not we cant operate with the


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Navy, we will operate with the Navy, that is our intention. Our question is to migrate tothe new fleet as fast as we can.

MR. BJERGA: The 2010 ice season has been detrimental to cutters. Is thereanything on the table to replace or decommission them?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: You said the ice season, correct? I'm assuming you'retalking about the Great Lakes ice season? Okay. We've had some problems withreliability of our 140 foot ice breaking tugs. I mentioned in my remarks that that's agrowing concern for us now. One of the things we're bringing to bear is our new logisticsorganizational structure to take a look at the entire class of 140 foot ice breaking tugs totake a look if there's any systemic subcomponents or particular parts of the ship that maybe endemic across the fleet that we need to take a look at.

Once that assessment is done, we're going to have to come up with a way forward.But this is one of the conversations we're going to have as we start managing this

portfolio and moving forward. And the reason a five year capital investment plan thatcreates predictability so we can plan against it is so important.

MR. BJERGA: How important is the ratification of the international treaty ofthe law of the sea to maritime security?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I think it's extremely important, and I've supported itfor a number of years, and I support it here today. We do a lot of things out there on thesea related to governing what is arguably the last global maritime commons. We do it outof practice, we have not ratified or ceded to the law of the sea treaty. I'll give you a verygood example. We need to, in the next few years, create a traffic separation scheme in theBering Straits so we can separate north and southbound traffic to prevent collisions andimprove the safety of that waterway.

Traffic separation schemes in transit straits, and a transit strait under the law ofthe sea treaty, is a strait that connects two international bodies of water. It can only bedone through the IMO in accordance with the provisions of the law of the sea treaty. Sowe continue to act unilaterally out there, using the law of the sea treaty as cover for whatwe're doing without ratifying the treaty. And I think its time we step forward, ratify thetreaty and use it as a governance model for how we're going to operate in the arctic, oranyplace else.

MR. BJERGA: Following on that, other nations naval forces and Coast Guardshave spent more resources on the arctic than the United States. Should the U.S. be payingmore attention to the arctic? Why, why not, or how?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes. We have a looming crisis, and that's the condition ofour polar ice breakers and how they fit into our future capitalization needs. We need tohave a policy discussion, as I mentioned earlier, about what the status of our two 30 yearold ice breakers is going to be, what are our intentions. Now, I've been told that we need


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a policy discussion inside the administration, and I believe that's true, before we make amonumental decision. These vessels can cost up to $1 billion apiece. We need tounderstand what it is we're trying to do in the arctic, and there needs to be a consensus onhow we need to move forward. And that discussion cannot happen soon enough.

MR. BJERGA:Given everything that you've spoken about today, including thebudget cuts, the introduction of Web 2.0, the greener Coast Guard, in five years, if there

is another Haiti or Katrina style disaster that the Coast Guard needs to respond to, howwould that response be different than it is today?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, there's some things that should change, and there aresome things that shouldnt. What shouldnt change are our operating principles outlinedin our doctrinal pub. And that's the principle of unseen initiative, the principle ofrestraint, and the principle of a unified operations, how we work. That is a proven model.What will change are technologies, command and control communications, our ability tosense, maritime domain awareness, and how we apply that operational model with the

forces we have, can become more effective and we can do a better job for the nation.

But as I said in my remarks, I would resist the urge to mess with our operationalmodel. And what I mean by that is if you start parsing our missions and trying to do alitmus test as to whether or not they're related to homeland security, or whether or notsomebody else can do them, you break down the multi-mission value added propositionfor this country. Respective of resource levels, we can always do the best job we've gotwith the resources we can under our current business model. So, I look for changes intechnology, I look for changes in maritime domain awareness, better, more effectivesensors, unmanned systems. Those things will change. Our basic operating conceptsshould not.

MR. BJERGA: We are nearly out of time. But before asking our last question,we have a couple of important matters to take care of. First, let me remind our membersof future speakers. On February 23rd, well have Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack,highlighting the Obama Administrations priorities for reauthorization of the ChildNutrition Act where he will call on Congress to act swiftly to pass a strongreauthorization bill to improve the health and nutrition of America's children.

On February 26th, Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health,will be speaking on a new era of quantum leaps in biomedical research. And on March5th, the Honorable Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, will discuss the casefor American greatness.

An announcement for our audience as well, members of the press who are here,please know that there will be a Q&A with Admiral Thad W. Allen for press only in theClubs Holeman Lounge. Also, of course, no luncheon would be complete without thetraditional presentation of the National Press Clubs beloved mug to our speaker today.(Applause)


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ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thanks.

MR. BJERGA: Now, as noted, this is the last of your four State of the CoastGuard addresses. The 23rd Commandant will soon be sailing to other shores soon and wedont necessarily know where they are. But for our final question, they say the happiest

days of a sailors life is the day he buys his first boat and the day that he sells it. As youprepare to leave the Coast Guard, what are you looking forward to, what would you miss,and would you consider other forms of government service someday, such as maybeSecretary of the Department of Homeland Security?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, with all due deference to my future peers who aresprinkled around the room here, I have a saying that the smartest admirals I ever met areretired. (Laughter) I hope to increase my intelligent quotient on the 26th of May andbecome one of those. It's been a great time for me in the Coast Guard. As many of youknow, I'm a Coast Guard brat. When I was born, my father was a seaman deployed on ahigh endurance cutter, he wasnt even there when I was born. I am 61 years old, I've had

47 addresses. So, probably some stability wouldn't be bad for a while. But I intend tokeep working. I've got an interest in NGOs, not for profits, and doing the kind of workwe have where it makes the most difference in close consultation with my ethics lawyers.(Laughter) But I will remain busy, and I don't intend on buying a boat.

MR. BJERGA: We would like to thank you for coming today, Admiral Allen.(Applause) We would also like to thank the National Press Club staff including its libraryand broadcast centers, for organizing todays event. For more information about joiningthe Press Club and how to acquire a copy of todays program, please go to our websitewww.press.org. Thank you.

END

Documents

National Press Club Luncheon With Admiral Thad